Sylvester Stallone says he rejected Trump's Hollywood envoy role

Sylvester Stallone is opening up about how blindsided he was when President Trump publicly named him a "special ambassador" to Hollywood in January 2025, saying he learned about the appointment the same way everyone else did, by watching television. 

Speaking to The Sunday Times ahead of the release of his new memoir, The Steps, the 80-year-old Rocky star recalled his reaction, "It just happened. I was watching TV one night and they go, 'So Stallone and Mel Gibson and Jon Voight will be …' And I went, 'What?' I said, 'Excuse me? Really?'" 

He added, "Because if they had asked me in the beginning, I would have said, this is not possible."

Stallone explained he ultimately turned down the role once he understood what it entailed, comparing Hollywood's fragmented studio system to feudal territories unlikely to respond to outside direction. 

"Yes. Yes, because Hollywood, I guess, it's like feudal states. They have their little kingdoms. You don't go in and tell six studios how to do things. And Mel Gibson and Jon Voight, we're kind of do-our-own-thing people. No, it won't work." 

He described telling Trump directly, "I said thank you and ciao, because it's impossible. Hollywood works, and it will evolve. It's corporate, and corporate people won't want to hear me tell them about finance."

Trump had announced Stallone, Gibson and Jon Voight as his three Hollywood "Special Envoys" in a January 2025 Truth Social post, writing, "They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK, BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!" 

Despite declining any active role, Stallone hasn't distanced himself personally from Trump. 

He introduced the president at a Mar-a-Lago gala following the 2024 election, calling him a "mythical character" and comparing him to "the second George Washington," saying at the time, "When George Washington defended his country, he had no idea that he was going to change the world. Because without him, you could imagine what the world would look like. Guess what? We got the second George Washington." 

Stallone was later named a 2025 Kennedy Center honoree, with Trump personally presenting him the medal during an Oval Office ceremony that December. 

Of the three envoys, only Voight has taken visible action in the role, lobbying the White House for a federal film-production tax incentive, though he's said he hasn't coordinated with either Stallone or Gibson on the effort.